SUI - Payee & Financial Services

REPRESENTATIVE PAYEE &
FINANCIAL SERVICES

WELCOME TO SYSTEMS UNLIMITED’S
PAYEE & FINANCIAL SERVICES!

As Representative Payee, Systems Unlimited has been providing a valuable service to individuals for many years. For those people whom we serve as representative payee, this service may include some or all of the following functions:

BASIC REPRESENTATIVE PAYEE SERVICES

Designed to follow the Social Security Administration guidelines for Representative Payee duties and Responsibilities including:

Paying food/shelter and personal needs
Monitoring personal accounts for resource limitations
If employed, reporting monthly earned income to Social Security Administration
Filing required reports to Social Security Administration with supporting documentation
Advocating for beneficiaries to protect, maintain or reinstate benefits through waiver appeal to Social Security Administration.

The customers served includes individuals with mental and/or physical disabilities, elderly or individuals receiving government benefits.

Accountability includes providing written quarterly reports to beneficiaries and if required, to family members, case managers, and social workers.

A monthly fee is charged based on guidelines provided by the Social Security Administration and may be adjusted at the beginning of each year. This year the monthly fee is $34.00.

Personal Financial Management:

Designed to assist individuals who are seeking knowledge and development of individual money management skills. Strategies may include one or more of the following processes:

Working one-on-one with individuals
Assessing monthly income and expenses
Overseeing the payment of, and staying current with, monthly living expenses
Learning to prioritize needs vs. wants
Establishing skills in personal budgeting and planning including anticipation of future needs
If necessary, resolving debts and credit collections
Teaching check book reconciliation
Establishing financial goals for savings

The customers served may include individuals with mental and/or physical disabilities, elderly, low income, single parent, persons with a history of substance abuse, persons receiving government benefits or other persons as identified by county Department of Human Services or other service providers.

Accountability is provided through written progress notes of each session with the individual.

Fee charged is $29.00 per hour in half hour increments with most individuals requiring between two to four hours per month. Initial sessions may require one or more hours per week eventually fading to 30 or 15 minutes per week.

Initial Interview:

Systems Unlimited is not legally obligated to provide either representative payee or financial services. To determine if our services will meet the person's needs, we will set up an initial meeting to go over the needs and review the following guidelines. If, at the end of the interview, we determine that we are not able to meet the needs, we will ask that services be sought from another individual or agency.

Guidelines:

In order that you receive the best service possible, Systems Unlimited has set up the following guidelines or rules that the customer must be willing to follow:

1. Call ahead for an appointment.

Customers deserve our full attention when they come to our office. Since we serve a large number of people, the only way to guarantee the best service is to have an appointment. Most business can usually be conducted in one visit; however, additional visits will be set, if needed.

2. Bring all bills, bank statements, pay stubs and financial questions.

We will go over all of the finances and make decisions together. If there is anything that the customer does not understand, we will work together to help answer the questions. We believe that customers have the right to be fully informed about all of their financial matters and we work together to make that happen.

3. Call with your questions.

Most questions can usually be answered during office hours with a simple phone call to Systems representative, Jan Sheldon at (319) 338-9212 ext. 130. Messages can be left on voice mail if she’s not available to talk right away. Be sure to leave a phone number where you can be reached.

4. Treat each other with respect.

We believe that everyone is important, and hope that our customers do too. We expect that differences of opinion will be handled in a calm and respectful manner. Since this is a business office, we can not tolerate yelling, swearing or other disruptive behaviors. If an individual will not discontinue an offensive behavior upon request, Systems Unlimited reserves the right to call the police to remove that individual from the premises. Services will be immediately discontinued for anyone who is removed from the office. Any person that is otherwise disruptive will receive three warnings before we discontinue services.

5. Provide one month notice to discontinue service.

At any time, either party may discontinue the representative payee service after providing the other party with a one month's notice. This allows us to contact the Social Security Administration about the change and gives the customer time to find another payee.

Additional information we need to know as Payee to comply with Social Security regulations.